1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is generally related to an oil measuring gage and, more particularly, to an oil measuring gage that is accessible through a cowl of a marine propulsion device, such as an outboard motor, without the necessity for the operator to remove the cowl from the outboard motor.
2. Description of the Prior Art
When an internal engine comprises an oil sump or oil storage reservoir, it is necessary to provide some means to determine the magnitude of the quantity of oil within the oil sump or reservoir. In many different types of internal combustion engines, an oil measuring gage, such as a dipstick, is provided to allow an operator to remove the oil measuring gage from an oil sump region and inspect the gage to determine the magnitude of the oil quantity within the oil sump. In an automobile engine, it is typical to provide a dipstick within the engine compartment for the purposes described above. The operator or service technician raises the hood of the car to expose a handle of the dipstick and then removes the dipstick to determine the quantity of oil within an oil sump or oil reservoir. This is true in automobile engines, lawn tractors, off-road equipment, and many other types of engine driven vehicles.
Outboard motors that comprise oil reservoirs, such as oil sumps, require that the operator first remove the cowl of the outboard motor to expose the handle of the dipstick before being able to measure the magnitude of the oil quantity within the oil sump. This procedure of removing the cowl is often cumbersome and, in certain circumstances when the boat is distant from a dock, creates a risk of dropping the cowl overboard during this procedure.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,487,687, which issued to Idzikowski et al on Jan. 30, 1996, describes a midsection and cowl assembly for an outboard marine drive. The outboard marine drive has a midsection between the upper power head and the lower gear case and has a removable midsection cowl assembly including first and second cowl sections. The midsection housing includes an oil sump in one embodiment and further includes an exhaust passage partially encircled by cooling water and partially encircled by engine oil for muffling engine exhaust noise. The midsection housing also has an oil drain arrangement providing complete and clean oil draining while the outboard drive is mounted on a boat and in the water wherein the operator can change oil without leaving the confines of the boat and entering the water. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,487,687, a dipstick is identified by reference numeral 164.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,828,519, which issued to Watanabe on May 9, 1989, discloses an outboard motor that has an improved lubricating system for the internal combustion engine. A lubricant sump is positioned beneath the engine and oil is returned to the sump through a drain opening in a spacer plate that separates the engine from the drive shaft housing. The oil sump and drain opening are configured so that oil will not return from the sump through the drain opening to the engine when the outboard motor is laid on its side edge. An oil measuring gage or dipstick, is identified by reference numeral 62 in U.S. Pat. No. 4,828,519.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,913,109, which issued to Slattery on Apr. 3, 1990, describes a marine outboard drive with an oil tank fill tube. A marine outboard drive unit includes a two-cycle internal combustion engine, an oil storage tank storing lubricating oil for the engine, and a fill tube within the engine cowl for filling the oil tank there below. The fill tube includes a partitioned upper cup portion vented to the tank and closed by a tactilely hinged cap.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,199,914, which issued to Marsh on Apr. 6, 1993, describes a four stroke outboard motor crankcase oil drain plug opening attachment. The attachment is described to facilitate drainage and collection of crankcase oil from four cycle outboard motors. The attachment includes a manually operable valve attached by a fitting to the motor drain plug opening. The valve extends to a flexible downspout that extends on downwardly to an auxiliary plug at a bottom end thereof. The valve includes an operator that can be rotated selectively to open and close the valve. The plug can be selectively removed and adds a redundancy feature to facilitate unintentional drainage of oil by operation of the valve. An oil drainage collector including an opening and a top end and a bale mounted thereon, may be selectively secured over the valve to facilitate collection of the oil. The opening and downspout and bale are related dimensionally such that the collector container cannot swing free of the downspout when the bale is secured over the valve.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,163,394, which issued to Koishikawa et al on Nov. 17, 1992, describes an engine with horizontal cylinders and an outboard engine assembly having such an engine. The engine assembly includes a cylinder block with at least one horizontal cylinder define therein. An oil pan disposed downwardly of the cylinder block, a cylinder head coupled to the cylinder block, and a head cover coupled to the cylinder head. The engine assembly also includes a valve operating mechanism chamber defined jointly between the cylinder head and the head cover. A lubricating oil supply passageway for supplying lubricating oil from the oil pan to at least the valve operating mechanism chamber, and a lubricating oil return passageway for returning lubricating oil from at least the valve operating mechanism chamber to the oil pan. The lubricating oil return passageway has openings for introducing lubricating oil from the valve operating mechanism chamber. The openings are defined in inner surfaces, respectively, of the cylinder head and the head cover which face a bottom of the valve operating mechanism chamber.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,903,653, which issued to Slattery on Feb. 27, 1990, describes a marine outboard drive with an oil tank. The drive unit includes a power head having a two-cycle internal combustion engine, a lower depending driveshaft housing extending downwardly from the power head and having a lower submerged propeller, and an oil tank mounted adjacent the driveshaft housing below the power head. The oil tank has a u-shape and extends partially around and conforms to the driveshaft housing and is mounted in the space between the driveshaft housing and a trim cover which extends downwardly from the engine cowl. Particular mounting structure, rattle-reducing structure, and visual oil level monitoring structure is provided.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,330,940, which issued to Leitgeb on May 25, 1982, discloses a device for measuring the oil level in closed housings, especially of internal combustion engines and transmissions. The device is provided with a sleeve fixed to the housing, and a removable measuring rod or dipstick. A stopper to close the sleeve is secured to the dipstick, which also has an abutment to limit the insertion depth in the measuring position of the dipstick. That end of the sleeve inside the housing terminates below the minimum oil level, and the sleeve has holes or openings for equalizing the pressure to the interior of the housing located as far as possible above the maximum oil level. In the measuring position, during insertion of the dipstick up to the abutment, the stopper is located below the outer end of the sleeve by at least one and one-half times the oil column level corresponding to the overpressure in the housing.
The patents described above are hereby expressly incorporated by reference in the description of the preferred embodiment of the present invention.
Known marine propulsion devices with oil sumps or oil reservoirs do not allow the operator to manually remove an oil measuring gage from the oil sump without first removing a cowl of the marine propulsion device. It would therefore be significantly beneficial if a marine propulsion device, such as an outboard motor, could be provided in which an operator could manually remove an oil measuring gage and determine the magnitude of oil in the oil sump without first having to remove the cowl.